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Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Short Life of Harry Baerecke

Yesterday I discussed how I was using city directories to put together a timeline of the short life of my great-great grandfather, Harry Baerecke. I thought my family might be interested in said timeline, so I'll post it here.

1868 - Age 0: Born in Granville, Wisconsin

1870 - Age 2: Living with family in Granville, Wisconsin

1880 - Age 12: Living with family at 416 State St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1883 - Age 15: A clerk living at 327 State St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1884 - Age 16: A clerk living at 327 State St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1885 - Age 17: A clerk living at 327 State St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1886 - Age 18: A locksmith living at 430 5th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1887 - Age 19: A machinist living at 430 5th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1888 - Age 20: A lineman living at 430 5th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1889 - Age 21: A lineman living at 430 5th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1890 - Age 22: An electrician living at 430 5th St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1891 - Age 23: Married Amelie Schmitz (aka Mollie Sutherland) in Milwaukee. Working as an electrician, living at 19 Armitage Ct., Chicago, Illinois.

1892 - Age 24: Only child Gertrude (aka Buster's mom) is born. Working as an electrician, living at 19 Armitage Ct., Chicago, Illinois

1893 - Age 25: Can't find him in the Chicago or Milwaukee directories

1894 - Age 26: An electrician living at 1106 N. Kedzie, Chicago, Illinois

1895 - Age 27: Can't find him in the Chicago or Milwaukee directories

1896 - Age 28: Died of pulmonary tuberculosis in Milwaukee. Buried there in Union Cemetery.

These snippets were pulled from censuses, city directories, marriage records and death records. I have digital images of the marriage and death records. Everything else can be found online at Ancestry.com. Let me know if you want anything or have trouble finding these records online.

Harry Baerecke had one child who went on to have one child. That means that the only known living descendants of this man are my dad and his siblings (3 people), their children (6 people) and their grandchildren (8 people so far). Seventeen people. That's not too many.

Well, there's my ancestor's life in just a few lines of text. There's more to explore in the property records, associations, newspapers and wills, but that will have to wait for another time.

5 comments:

Amy - I am teaching a group of Boy Scouts the genealogy merit badge and one requirement is to make a timeline of an ancestor. This is a great example - hope you don't mind if I take it with me to my next class.

I spend a lot of time with the RI directories and I have discovered the ones I attached before the (beta) are no longer attached. I am annoyed. Good thing I am retired. However, I love them. The ads are amazing.

Although Harry did have a short life and his posterity is up to seventeen people can you imagine how quickly that number will rise? Even a short life can have an impact on many many lives. Learning these stories form family name histories is a great opportunity.